Twenty regional winners were recognized, and one national winner who is from Oregon also was honored. In addition NCWIT presented two National Educator Awards to Oregon teachers who have demonstrated strong, positive involvement in encouraging their female computer science students.

Last week my high school computer science teacher, Baker Franke, and I spoke on Capitol Hill about the importance of computer science in the K-12 curriculum. Our testimony was part of the Computing in the Core initiative, which seeks to strengthen K-12 computing education as a core discipline for all 21st-century students.

I was one of the lucky ones who got started early in computing, and it has significantly affected my life for the better. I'm currently a sophmore at Brown University, studying computer science. This is the transcript of what I said on Capitol Hill.

Many of you probably took note of our own Jane Margolis being interviewed in The New York Times a few weeks ago for an article on the dearth of women among Wikipedia editors. In the weeks since, it seems the topic of women in open source generally has gained some traction.

This week the Wall Street Journal reported on new findings that show a $16,819 pay gap between male and female doctors. According to the study, this discrepancy exists even when researchers controlled for factors like specialty, practice type, and the number of hours worked. But does that mean it’s discrimination, causing the gap?

Research from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln this week illustrates a unique type of stereotype threat: being ogled. In a study supposedly looking at “teamwork,” researchers asked specially trained assistants to partner with members of the opposite sex and give them not-so-subtle once-overs. Women who received an objectifying glance from their male partners scored lower on a subsequent math test than women who didn’t, while the men’s scores were unaffected.

Did you know that entrepreneurship doesn’t have a minimum age? That’s according to Teens in Tech, which has just launched a tech incubator program for kids 13-19 years old. The eight-week summer program is modeled after other successful incubators – a demo day at the end will let the budding entrepreneurs pitch to real VCs -- but features a roster of 20-something mentors. Says co-founder Daniel Brusilovsky, “people don’t take them [teens] seriously.